Employers are worried about using Mediation and Settlement Agreements. The introduction of employment tribunal (ET) fees has changed the balance of power between employers and claimants. It has had a significant impact on employees’ willingness to make claims. Employers spend an average of 19 days of management time dealing with individual ET cases. Larger organisations with more than 250 employees spend 20 days dealing with individual ET cases. While organisations with fewer employees spend around 12 days. CIPD (2015) Recent legislation has only a limited impact on employers’ approaches to managing conflict. However, there is growing support for an alternative dispute resolution. Try something different to the usual formal discipline and grievance processes. Employers are beginning to use informal methods when attempting to dismiss staff. Employers are beginning to use mediation and settlement agreements as a means of terminating employment. The majority (56%) of employers asked in a recent CIPD survey that they feel settlement agreements are a useful mechanism for removing an underperforming employee without the need to go through an unnecessary and time-consuming performance management process. Employers are making increased use of mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, to resolve workplace issues, but many HR managers […]

Are there winners and losers in the Grievance process? Or is everybody a loser? ‘Just put a grievance in’, is a very common response by employees who are having difficulties with a situation at work. Especially, if it’s to do with a difficult working relationship. ‘Just put a grievance in’, shows a complete lack of understanding for what putting a grievance in, actually involves. By the time an employee gets to the point where they feel they have no option other than to ‘just put a grievance in’, it’s likely that they have had months of negative emotion about a situation. The situation will have likely kept them awake at night. Or been their sole topic of conversation at home and at work for some time. It will be distracting them from working as productively as the organisation would wish them to. And may even have resulted in them taking time off sick to avoid the situation. Resolving this situation is highly unlikely to have winners and losers in the Grievance Process. The employee’s grievance will most likely involve at least one other employee. The person that they are aggrieved against. That person may be oblivious to the situation and […]